by Alan Stifff

Created on: January 23, 2010   Last Updated: January 24, 2010

Story telling is as old as humanity but while stories might stay the same through the ages, the way they are told certainly does change. Private eye fiction is no exception. It follows therefore that the genre has to change to accommodate the change in the tastes of an audience whom research reveals hardly do any reading in their spare time. Down to the basics though. In the past, private eye fiction, which was quite popular, followed a rigid sort of plot structure whose climax was usually an unexpected twist at the very end. As readers became more critical of the stories and some actually referring to some of the twists as stupid, it  called for a change in writing tactics. Many writers, not by common agreement though, decided to experiment new, more captivating methods of story telling methods. For instance, traditional private eye stories were replaced by secret agent/spy stories that boasted a slightly tighter plot and faster, more intense action. It worked for some. If you compare a story like " LADY THIS IS MURDER" against "THE WHITE HOUSE CONNECTION" a 21st century reader will prefer the latter. The reason? The second story is far more captivating.

In short, the future of private eye fiction, especially traditional private eye stores, is bleak. The readers' taste has changed and they'll usually go for the new age "private eye"stories that don't necessarily have a detective as the central character. In fact, traditional detective stories are very few these days and as mentioned earlier, secret agent stories will soon completely overshadow traditional private eye stories. Is that a fact? Yes. Terrorism has pushed people to ask questions as to why people should commit such heinous acts and to answer the questions writers must do their research before providing answers and who will they ask the questions? Secret agents. That's why we'll be seeing more of these stories for sometime. While some people prefer the private eye stories that had a detective as the lead character they will have no option but to change and go along with the flow. Consider the fact that many successful novels are adapted into movies, and if we have to face the truth, how many traditional private eye stories have gone on to the big screen? Few. Think of James Bond, most of the stories about him are non traditional private eye stories. They didn't meet with much success at first but what happened later?

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